The secret every one of us learns after many years of writing is that writing is not just about that flash of inspiration. It is mostly about re-writing and editing. Lots of it. When editing your chapters, I suggest the following: Read it aloud and fix any sentence that sounds stilted. Check your dialogue. Is…
All the best this holiday season. After all the turkey, the presents, and the socializing we will be here waiting for you. MoeM. E. Wood lives in Eastern Ontario with her husband of fourteen years. She has been moderating BIW for over five years and works at home writing for the internet. You can learn…
A published writer said to me that a really good story does not need any backstory. I had to think about that for a little while. I must admit that the pull to reveal all the background information about my Main Character (MC) or the backstory of the novel is quite strong. In fact, it…
The New Year is fast approaching and it is around this time that we all start thinking of resolutions. Personally, I do not like to use the word “resolution”. As soon as I hear it I automatically think that it involves food deprivation or a gym membership. Instead, I prefer the word “goal” as it…
Is it me or has anyone else noticed the massive spike in self-promotion on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites with the advent of the Kindle and the subsequent onslaught of epublishing? A day does not go by when I am not bombarded with announcements from fellow writers who have self-published their own books.…
You can not be an aspiring writer without coming face to face with rejection. It is the nature of the beast. Most rejections tend to be the generic, mass-market “no thank-you” that are sent as a matter of form. However, once in a while, an agent will take the time to respond personally to your…
An Insightful Primer on the Art of Dramatic Writing Book Review by Laura Roberts Although taking advice aimed at playwrights may seem like a strange idea to a novelist or writer of short fiction, one of my go-to writing advice books is Stuart Spencer’s The Playwright’s Guidebook. With the subtitle An Insightful Primer on the…
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life… and that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan What are you willing to do to pursue your dream of becoming a published writer? It is the rule rather than the exception that most serious, aspiring writers write with the end goal being publication.…
When I used to write for the Literary Fiction site at BellaOnline I asked a few hundred readers what question they would ask their favorite author if they had the chance, I picked the best from the lot and created a standard author Q & A to use with guest authors. Bascially a “Q &…
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